1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to toys having appendages molded from elastomeric materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to the methodology of molding elastomeric material into a toy structure of different materials.
2. Prior Art Description
There are many commercial toy products and novelties that are molded from soft elastomeric materials, such as a thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and styrene-based block copolymers. Such elastomeric materials are often called elastomeric gels because they are so soft that the material feels squishy or gel-like to the touch. Such materials are highly elastic and have a very high tear strength. This has made such materials very popular in the toy industry. Toy characters made from such elastomeric materials can be stretched many times their normal size without breaking.
Elastomeric gel material has a relatively low melting point as compared to other synthetic elastomers. Accordingly, it has proven very difficult to produce a molded toy that contains both elastomeric gel material and traditional plastics because of the disparity in the required molding temperatures. As a result, if a toy were to include both traditional plastics and elastomeric gel material, the elastomeric gel material is typically adhered or joined to the toy in a secondary process.
Elastomeric gel material is highly elastic and deforms greatly when subjected to a tension force. This physical characteristic makes elastomeric gel material very difficult to anchor to the structure of a toy. If the elastomeric gel material is glued to a surface, the elastomeric gel material tends to pull away from the glue as it elongates. Likewise, the elongation of the elastomeric gel material makes the material nearly impossible to restrict with an interference fit. As a result, the only way to bind elastomeric gel material to other plastics is to either mold or cut a loop into the elastomeric gel material and then extending and anchored post through that loop. Creating such an interconnection between elastomeric gel material and other plastics is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,785,170 to Chernick, entitled Novelty Device Having Elastomeric Protrusions With Hard Plastic Terminations And Its Associated Method Of Construction. The obvious problem associated with such assembly techniques is that the assembly requires manual labor in a multi-step toy assembly procedure.
The present invention is a novel toy that combines both elastomeric gel material and other traditional plastic materials in a single assembly. The toy is manufactured using a novel technique that eliminates the need for expensive hand assembly. The details of the present invention toy and its method of manufacture are described and claimed below.